Laser drilling is increasingly becoming the method of choice for precision drilling of a variety of components, particularly in the aircraft industry. Notwithstanding the current level of acceptance of laser drilling in the aerospace industry, a number of defects such as spatter, recast and taper are associated with laser drilled holes and elimination of these defects is the subject of intense research. The present paper deals with Nd:YAG laser drilling of 4 and 8mm thick sections of IN718 and Ti-6Al-4V materials. The influence of type of material and its thickness, as well as parametric impact of key process variables like pulse frequency and pulse energy, have been determined. In the course of this study, relevant geometrical features of the drilled holes, like hole diameter and taper angle, have been comprehensively investigated. In addition, all metallurgical characteristics of interest, viz extent and nature of spatter, recast and heat-affected zone, have been evaluated. Effort has also been made to obtain some insights into the evolution of a through-thickness hole during laser percussion drilling of thick sections by careful experimentation involving monitoring the progression of the drilled hole with increasing number of laser pulses. Issues pertaining to variation of taper with depth of hole, change in crater depth with progressive drilling and specific energy consumption are also discussed. © 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Fusion based additive manufacturing (FBAM) of second, sixth, and seventh series Al alloys and their metal matrix composites (MMC) is difficult due to their higher thermal conductivity and solidification related problems namely porosity, cracks, thermal distortion, and formation of undesired phases. This paper presents friction stir powder additive manufacturing (FSPAM) process as a promising alternative to overcome these problems in producing multi-layer depositions of Al 6061 based MMCs namely Al 6061/6wt%FeCoNi and Al 6061/6wt%Ni. Their microstructure, distribution and elemental mapping of reinforcement particles, phase analysis, residual stresses of the MMCs and their correlation with microhardness, tensile strength, and fretting wear characteristics are investigated. Material accumulation on their advancing side was minimized by changing tool rotation direction in consecutive layers which produced smoother surfaces on both sides of their deposition. FSPAM made multi-layer depositions of Al 6061/FeCoNi and Al 6061/Ni MMCs have uniform distribution of reinforcement particles, good bonding between layers without cracks and defects, refined and equiaxed grains facilitated by dynamic recrystallization and pinning effect of reinforcement particles, compressive residual stresses of 39 and 48 MPa, no formation of deleterious intermetallic compounds due to absence of melting of matrix and reinforcement, and bowl-shaped substrate-deposition interface. Microhardness and ultimate tensile strength of the MMCs improved by 11.3% and 22.3%, and 30.5% and 31.5% respectively than Al 6061 alloy depositions, their wear resistance enhanced significantly, but % elongation reduced. This study proves FSPAM to be a potential alternative to FBAM processes for better quality multi-layer deposition of Al alloy-based MMCs.

The ability to axially inject liquid feedstock has encouraged the thermal spray research community to explore this concept to deposit coatings for various next generation functional applications. The current study explores the utilization of liquid feedstock in high velocity air fuel (HVAF) spraying to deposit solid lubricant reinforced wear resistant coatings for the first time. The study successfully demonstrates the use of a powder-suspension hybrid processing approach to incorporate a solid lubricant Boron Nitride (as suspension) in a wear resistant Cr3C2–NiCr (as powder) cermet matrix. Coatings were characterized using Scanning Electron Microscopy and Raman Spectroscopy to analyze their microstructure and phase constitution. The results show that the tribological performance of the hexagonal boron nitride (hBN)-incorporated composite coating was significantly better than the traditional powder-derived Cr3C2–NiCr coating. Such hBN-incorporated composite coatings are needed to improve the mechanical properties and enhance the overall tribological performance of metallic components used in various applications, especially at high temperature such as cylinder bore, pistons, deformation tools, etc. The limitations of liquid based lubricants at high temperature motivates the use of hBN reinforced composite coatings as it can form a protective solid lubrication tribo-film. The study concludes that the emerging HVAF technology can accommodate liquid feedstock and be successfully utilized to deposit hybrid powder-suspension composite coatings to create multi length scale microstructures which can be attractive for combining different tribological attributes in the same coatings system.

This paper concerns the temperature evolution during white layer formation induced by hard turning of martensitic and bainitic hardened AISI 52100 steel, as well as the effects of cutting temperatures and surface cooling rates on the microstructure and properties of the induced white layers. The cutting temperatures were measured using a high speed two-colour pyrometer, equipped with an optical fibre allowing for temperature measurements at the cutting edge. Depending on the machining conditions, white layers were shown to have formed both above and well below the parent austenitic transformation temperature, Ac1, of about 750 C. Thus at least two different mechanisms, phase transformation above the Ac1 (thermally) and severe plastic deformation below the Ac1 (mechanically), have been active during white layer formation. In the case of the predominantly thermally induced white layers, the cutting temperatures were above 900 C, while for the predominantly mechanically induced white layers the cutting temperatures were approximately 550 C. The surface cooling rates during hard turning were shown to be as high as 104-105 C/s for cutting speeds between 30 and 260 m/min independent of whether the studied microstructure was martensitic or bainitic. Adding the results from the cutting temperature measurements to previous results on the retained austenite contents and residual stresses of the white layers, it can be summarised that thermally induced white layers contain significantly higher amounts of retained austenite compared to the unaffected material and display high tensile residual stresses. On the contrary, in the case of white layers formed mainly due to severe plastic deformation, no retained austenite could be measured and the surface and subsurface residual stresses were compressive. © 2014 Elsevier B.V.

This work employed an axial suspension plasma spray (SPS) process to deposit two different gadolinium zirconate (GZ) based triple layered thermal barrier coatings (TBCs). The first was a 'layered' TBC (GZ dense/GZ/YSZ) where the base layer was YSZ, intermediate layer was a relatively porous GZ and the top layer was a relatively dense GZ. The second triple layered TBC was a 'composite' TBC (GZ dense/GZ + YSZ/YSZ) comprising of an YSZ base layer, a GZ + YSZ intermediate layer and a dense GZ top layer. The as sprayed TBCs (layered and composite) were characterized using SEM/EDS and XRD. Two different methods (water intrusion and image analysis) were used to measure the porosity content of the as sprayed TBCs. Fracture toughness measurements were made on the intermediate layers (GZ + YSZ layer of the composite TBC and porous GZ layer of the layered TBC respectively) using micro indentation tests. The GZ + YSZ layer in the composite TBC was shown to have a slightly higher fracture toughness than the relatively porous GZ layer in the layered TBC. Erosion performance of the as sprayed TBCs was evaluated at room temperature where the composite TBC showed higher erosion resistance than the layered TBC. However, in the burner rig test conducted at 1400 °C, the layered TBC showed higher thermal cyclic lifetime than the composite TBC. Failure analysis of the thermally cycled and eroded TBCs was performed using SEM and XRD. © 2018 Elsevier B.V.

A fluid dynamics approach to modelling of fusion welding in titanium alloys is proposed. The model considers the temporal and spatial evolution of liquid metal/gas interface to capture the transient physical effects during the heat source–material interaction of a fusion welding process. Melting and vaporisation have been considered through simulation of all interfacial phenomena such as surface tension, Marangoni force and recoil pressure. The evolution of the metallic (solid and liquid) and gaseous phases which are induced by the process enables the formation of the keyhole, keyhole dynamics, and the fully developed weld pool geometry. This enables the likelihood of fluid flow-induced porosity to be predicted. These features are all a function of process parameters and formulated as time-dependent phenomena. The proposed modelling framework can be utilised as a simulation tool to further develop understanding of defect formation such as weld-induced porosity for a particular fusion welding application. The modelling results are qualitatively compared with available experimental information.

Switchback Gas Metal Arc Welding (GMAW) consists of a forward and backward periodic oscillation of the welding torch in the longitudinal direction of the joint. The present work has two objectives, to evaluate the use of a simple and practical device proposed for the switchback manipulation of the torch and to analyze the effect of the switchback parameters on the operational characteristic of the process. Two series of bead-on-plate depositions were planned, using the GMAW process with or without the switchback technique. To find an operational envelope, two levels of equivalent welding speeds were used for covering ranges of oscillation frequency and amplitude. A Ni superalloy was employed as deposition material, aiming at simulating weld overlays. Wire feeding speed, set voltage and contact tip-to-work distance (CTWD) were kept constant. The proposed device was evaluated and proved to be able to make the overlays with all combinations of planned parameters. It was demonstrated that if the backward length (B) is larger than half of the forward's (F), the torch passes more often over the same point of the deposit, and the oftener the torch passes over the same point, the lower the incidence of intermittent narrowing of the bead. By evaluating the surface aspect of the beads, the greater the F, the higher the likelihood of this irregularity. Penetration is shallower with switchback (reason demonstrated based on the fraction of stroke length that the arc is over the subtract), yet the bead surface presents more ripples. Another incident non-geometric conformity is the "dragon back" aspect of the bead, which is favored by faster equivalent welding speeds and high values of forward and backward speeds. The found operational envelope for the GMAW process with switchback was stablished with low-values of speeds and lengths of forward and backward strokes.

Although CO2 lasers have been widely employed for commercial sheet metal cutting operations, increased recognition of the processing benefits afforded by pulsed Nd:YAG lasers has recently fuelled interest in the latter. Pulsed Nd:YAG laser cutting differs from conventional continuous wave laser cutting as it involves overlapping of a series of individual spots generated by each pulse. In this paper, a typical cutting regime for pulsed Nd:YAG laser cutting of 1 mm thick Hastelloy-X sheet has been constructed and explained in terms of extent of spot overlap. The characteristics of single holes drilled employing the same process parameters as those employed for cutting were investigated and correlated with the obtained processing regime. Additionally, the influence of key process parameters like pulse duration on the shift in the constructed processing regime was investigated. Cut quality attributes like kerf width, cut edge kerf profile and surface roughness were also studied and their dependence on process parameters has been discussed. © 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.